THE TEXAN OTGHTHAWK. 173 



catching insects, probably the latter. The ordinary call note uttered by it while 

 on the wing, however, is quite different ; it is still more squeaky than that of the 

 Nighthawk, not so loud, and reminds me somewhat of the sounds made by a 

 very young kitten in distress. It apparently does not indulge in the peculiar 

 aerial performances, causing the booming sounds made by the other members 

 of this genus so frequently heard during the mating and breeding season; and 

 it is also more crepuscular, and unless accidentally flushed is rarely seen flying 

 about in the daytime. Dr. James C. Merrill, United States Army, in his "List 

 of Birds Observed in the Vicinity of Fort Brown, Texas," writes of this species 

 as follows: 



" Common summer visitor, arriving early in April. While Chordeiles vir- 

 ginianus henryi is usually found about prairies at some distance from houses, the 

 present species is most plentiful just outside of Brownsville, and I have found 

 several sets of eggs within the fort. These are usually deposited in exposed 

 situations, among sparse chaparral, on gi'ound baked almost as hard as brick by 

 the intense heat of the sun. One set of eggs was placed on a small piece of 

 tin, within a foot or two of a frequented path. The female sits close, and when 

 flushed flies a few feet aiad speedily returns to its eggs. They make no attempt 

 to decoy an intruder away. I have ridden up to within five feet of a female on 

 her eggs, dismounted, tied my horse, and put my hand on the bird before she 

 would move. This species is inore strictly crepuscular than Chordeiles inrgin- 

 ianus henryi or Chordeiles virginianus, and is very seldom seen on the Aving 

 during the day. The notes are a mewing call, and a very curious call that is 

 with difficulty described. It is somewhat like the distant and very rapid tap- 

 ping of a large Woodpecker, accompanied by a humming sound, and it is almost 

 impossible to tell in what direction or at what distance the bird is that makes 

 the noise. Both these notes are littered on the wing or on the ground, and by 

 both sexes." ^ 



In some respects its habits resemble those of the Poor-will more than the 

 Nighthawks. I have more than once seen several of these birds alight on the 

 bare ground in front of my camp on Rillito Creek, near Tucson, Arizona, after 

 sundown, and watched them hopping after insects or dusting themselves. They 

 were very tame, often allowing me to walk to within four feet of them, when 

 they would only fly a few yards and resume their feeding again. 



The Texan Nighthawk usually arrives along- the southern border of its 

 range in the United States about the first week in April, and returns south again 

 in the latter part of October. Throughout the more southern portions of its 

 habitat it undoubtedly raises two broods in a season. The earliest breeding 

 records I have (April 27 and 28) are from the lower Rio Grande Valley, in 

 Texas; the latest (one of my own) is August 6, 1872, when I found a strongly 

 incubated set of eggs near Tucson, Arizona. 



Like the other members of the Caprimulgidce, the Texan Nighthawk makes 

 no nest, but deposits its two eggs on the bare ground, where they are fully 



'Proceedings United States National Museum, Vol. I, 1878, p. 146. 



